"BEAUTIFUL, compelling, awful - bring on the full length piece." was how Lindsey Clarke, Editor of Londonist described an excerpt of Crazy Joanna, (a full-length dance/film integrated piece on domestic abuse); performed at last weekend’s London Cloud Dance Festival by Leeds based Slanjayvah Danza.

Alongside 12 other contemporary dance companies, Slanjayvah's Dani Ferreira, Amir Giles and Jenni Wren performed a dance-only scene from Crazy Joanna set in the bordellos of Buenos Aires at the birth of the Tango. Knowing beforehand that the piece would have to compete with Slanjayvah’s last year’s hit ‘Blind Passion’ and that the domestic violence theme was going to have a strong impact, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Critic Debbie Shine described the piece as “Dark, disturbing, yet breathtakingly beautiful in the tender moments.” Lesley Perez wrote “A section of fierce partnering illustrating the abusive relationship was absolutely gripping.”

Suzanne Allen’s review stated, “A combination of beauty and tragedy, all the while a celebration of the survivors of domestic abuse, choreographer Jenni Wren and her collaborative dancers must be credited for their sensitive approach to this prevalent issue. A must see performance.” she continued, a sentiment echoed by Londondance critic Libby Costello’s “This taster of Crazy Joanna left me wanting to view the work in its entirety - let's hope this opportunity arises soon.”

The full work of Crazy Joanna is an integrated moving image and live dance performance and a short film taken from the Buenos Aires scene, very skilfully put together by Aurora Fearnley (Little Northern Light) has been entered into this year’s Virgin Shorts Film Competition. Judging is currently taking place and Slanjayvah is hopeful that Crazy Joanna will be chosen as one of 12 ‘shorts’ to be shown on 240 cinema screens nationwide.

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